Turkey continues repression as 104 former soldiers sentenced to life imprisonment

An aggravated penalty regime is foreseen, which provides for imprisonment until death under strict security measures. Erdogan asks to reintroduce the death penalty for the coup leaders. At the bar a total of 280 people, stripped the position of 143. Minor convictions for another 52 defendants for aiding and belonging to terrorist organization.


Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Turkish court sentenced to life imprisonment (imprisoned until death, under strict security measures) at least 104 former soldiers and officers, for their involvement in the (failed) coup Summer 2016. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently called for the reintroduction of the death penalty for authors and promoters of the coup.

According to the Turkish official media, a total of 280 former soldiers appeared before the Izmir courts on the Aegean coast. Of these, at least 52 received minor convictions based on the accusation of "aiding the assassination of the president" and "belonging to a terrorist organization". At least 21 people will have to spend the next 20 years in a cell; are added to these 31 with penalties ranging between seven and 11 years. Finally, the position of another 143 defendants was struck out.

Those convicted include the former commander of the Air Force, General Hasan Huseyin Demirarasl, the former Chief of Staff in the Aegean, General Mamdouh Hakbil, Rear Admiral Suleyman Manka and other senior military rankings dismissed and arrested after the coup.

Almost two years since the failed coup in Turkey during the night between July 14 and 15 2016, which has facilitated rather than undermined the total dominion of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the campaign of repression launched by the authorities against alleged accomplices or supporters continues. Among the accusations, most often pretentious, the affiliation to Kurdish "terrorist" groups or the belonging to the movement that belongs to the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, in exile in Pennsylvania (United States). According to Erdogan and leading authorities, he is the true mastermind of the coup in Turkey during which 270 people died and thousands were injured. In total, over 50 thousand people have been arrested, over 150 thousand suspended or driven from work, in both public and private sectors.